THE GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER

THE GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER

FIRST GENERATION (1951-1958) VACUUM TUBE

1. Vacuum tubes as their main logic elements 2. Punch Cards to input and externally stored data 3. Rotating magnetic drums for internal storage of data and programs 1. Program written in INNOVATIONS * Machine Language * Assembly Language

What is Vacuum Tubes? Vacuum tubes look similar to light bulbs. This was the first major electrical parts of a computer replacing manual switches. After the introduction of vacuum tubes, there were no problems with mechanical gears, pulley or levers. Vacuum tubes marked the end of mechanical computing and the beginning of electronics in computer.

This how Vacuum tube looks like

Characteristic of the Vacuum Tubes First generation computers had vacuum tubes, resistors, and welded metal joints. They were very slow, expensive, and produced a lot of heat. In addition, first generation computers often broke down because of burned out vacuum tubes.

First generation computers also needed many experts to operate them. In fact, when these computers were running, people stood by with shopping carts full of replacement tubes.

COMPUTERS WITH VACUUM TUBES

ENIAC- Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator In 1945 Presper Eckert and John Mauchly developed the first operational electronic digital computer called ENIAC, for the US Army. ENIAC was over 1000 times faster than Mark I, and could perform 5,000 additions per second.

ENIAC I

ENIAC had more than 18,000 vacuum tubes, and took up to 1,800 square feet of space. In addition, the electrical current ENIAC required could power more than a thousand modern computers today. Today, ENIAC s technology could fit in a modern wristwatch.

UNIVAC 1 Universal Automatic Computer In 1951 the UNIVAC 1 became the first commercially available electronic computer. This computer was designed by Eckert and Mauchly and built by the Remington Rand Company. The first of these computers was delivered to the US Census Bureau.

UNIVAC 1

Between 1951 and 1953, magnetic core memory was developed. This memory consist of tiny ferrite donuts that were arranged on a lattice of wires.

IBM 701 Sixty years ago, the IBM 701 was formally announced. Its official name was the Defense Calculator, specifically selected to appeal to the patriotism of the older Watson and to avoid the use of the unacceptable word, computer, according to Emerson Pugh in Building IBM.

IBM 701 IBM s first electronic business computer.

The Second Generation of Computer TRANSISTOR (1959-1963)

INNOVATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS 1. Vacuum tubes replaced by transistors as main logic element. 2. Magnetic tape and disks began to replace punched cards as external storage devices. 3. Magnetic cores strung on wire within the computer became the primary internal storage technology. High level programming language E.G. FORTRAN and COBOL

Crystalline mineral materials called semiconductors could be used in the design of a device called transistor.

MORE ABOUT TRANSISTOR Instead of vacuum tubes, second generation computers used transistors, an exciting invention at the time. John Barden, Walter Brattain and William Schockley of Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the transistor. A transistor is a small, solid state component designed to monitor the flow of electric current.

CHARATERISTIC OF TRANSISTOR Transistor were smaller, faster, cheaper, required less power, and produced less heat than vacuum tubes. Transistors made second generation of computers faster and more reliable than first generation computers. Transistors play an important role in electronic circuits. Circuits help make up electronic systems, and electronic system are what make electronic computing possible.

Transistor allowed the second generation of computers to communicate over telephone lines. The transistor gave way to the concepts of parallel processor and multi programming. Unlike the first generation computers, second generation computers could run multiple programs, and could address input and output at the same time.

First Computer Bug Grace Hopper, the woman that found the first computer bug, finishes developing COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

The First Computer Bug was actually a real BUG.

1964 Digital Equipment Corporation DEC, founded by Ken Olsen, released the first microcomputer the PDP-8

IBM 360 IBM unveils the system/360, the first family of computers. The IBM 360 is introduced in April and quickly becomes the standard institutional maiframe computer. By the mid- 80s the 360 and its descendant will have generated more than 100 billion dollars in revenue for IBM.

IBM 360

1965 Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny of Dorthmouth College developed BASIC (Beginers All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) as a computer language to help teach people how to program.

THE THIRD GENERATION OF COMPUTER INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (IC)

INNOVATIONS 1. Individual transistors were replaced by integrated circuits 2. Magnetic tape and disks completely replace punch cards as external storage devices. 3. Magnetic Core internal memories began to give way to a new form, metal oxide semiconductor MOS memory which like integrated circuits, used silicon-backed chips.

Third Generation of computers were built between 1963 1974. These computers relied on a new technology called the integrated circuits. The integrated circuit is single wafer that can hold many transistors and electronic circuits. The invention of the transistor eliminated the need for unreliable hand-wired circuits and allowed hundreds of circuits to be easily connected. IC were faster, offered improved memory, and reduced the price of computers.

Today, integrated circuits are everywhere. From personal computers, to microwave ovens, to pagers, the integrated circuits has forever changed technology. Invented by Jack Kilby, the integrated circuits gave way to an entirely new era: Information Age.

JACK KILBY In 1958 Jack Kilby joined Texas Instruments Inc. in Dallas where he was responsible for integrated circuit development and applications. In 1959 electrical engineer Jack S. Kilby invented the monolithic integrated circuit, which is still widely used in electronic systems.

1968 INTEL Intel was founded by Robert Noyce (one of the inventors of integrated circuits.

The History of Internet

FOURTH GENERATION: 1979 to Present MICROPROCESSOR

INTEL CORPORATION Intel Corporation designed the first tiny computer on a chip, it was called a microprocessor. From 1974 to the present, computers have relied mainly on the microprocessor which has made computers the fastest and the most powerful they have ever been. A microprocessor is an integrated circuit built on a tiny chip of silicon. It contains thousands, or even millions of transistors work together to store and manipulate data so that the microprocessor can perform a wide variety of useful functions. The particular function a microprocessor performs are dictated by software.

Microprocessor 4004 The Intel s first microprocessor was the 4004. It was introduced in 1971, and contained 2,300 transistors. Pentium 4 processor by contrast, contains 55 million transistors. Today s Intel i7 processor contains and estimated more than 730 million transistors.

Altair 8080 In 1975, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systemsor MITS produced the first PC. They named the computer kit Altair 8080 after the Star Trek episode. It had 256 bytes of memory and ran a version of BASIC written by Bill Gates

Bill Gates and Paul Allen

In 1970s many companies sold PC kits, but the kits were confusing to use and hard to assemble. However, two entrepreneurs attempted to solve this problem. In April 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the Apple Computers. This aim was to build a simple yet powerful powerful computer that an average person could unpack, plug in and begin using it immediately. Apple s widely successful PC was the Apple II personal computer. The Apple II was the first personal computer to come in plastic case and include color graphics.

Steve Jobs and Wozniak

Word Processor and Spreadsheet Program VisicCalc Wordstar

Apple Macintosh The Apple Macintosh debuts in 1984. It features a simple, graphical interface uses 8 MHz, Motorola 68000 CPU, and has built in 9 inch B/W screen

Amiga Amiga introduce the world in multimedia.

Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows 1.0 ships in November, Windows 1.0 looked ugly, run slowly and had very little support from third party software developers. Windows 3 was launched. Multiple programs could be run simultaneously, and although this wasn t true preemptive multitasking it was big forward. Virtual memory was also provided.

PowerMac In 1994 Apple announced the PowerMac family, the first Macs to be based on PowerPC chip, an extremely fast processor codeveloped with IBM and Motorola.

Pentium Processor In 1993, Intel introduced the Pentium Processor, a microprocessor with 3.1 million transistors. Technological developments continue to change modern computing.

Computers as of Today Year CPU Speed Disk Drive RAM Computer Speed 1995 60 MHz 500 mb 8 Mb 28.8 Kbps modem 1996 100 Mhz 1.2 Gb 16 Mb 33.6 kbps 1997 200 Mhz 3.2 Gb 32 mb 56 kbps 1998 400 mhz 6.4 GB 64 Mb 56 KBPS 1999 600 Mhz 37 Gb 128 mb Mbps 2000 1.2 Ghz 70 Gb 256 Mb Mbps 2012 3.4 Ghz 2 TB 8-16 Gb Mbps